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Digital Realty Takes Stake in Westin Building

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR) has acquired a "partial interest" in the Westin Building in Seattle, the leading Internet gateway in the Pacific Northwest. The investment was one of four deals announced today by Digital Realty, which also acquired data center facilities in the Boston and Miami markets and a warehouse in Tempe, Arizona for conversion to telecom use.

The release from Digital Realty doesn't indicate the exact dollar value of its investment in the Westin Building, or the size of its partial ownership stake. The total price paid for the four transactions was $79.1 million, according to Digital Realty. Given the size and value of the Westin Building, and the inclusion of three other properties, that price suggests a minority ownership position.

The Westin Building (2001 Sixth Avenue) is a 34-story, 389,000 square foot tower that is 90% leased. Approximately 185,000 square feet is built out as technical space and supports a variety of telecom functions including colocation space and meet-me rooms.

"The addition to our portfolio of the Seattle Internet gateway facility, locally known as the Westin Building, represents a very strategic initial acquisition for us in this tier one market," said Michael F. Foust, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty Trust. "It not only expands our national footprint into the Pacific Northwest, it also adds to our existing portfolio of mission critical Internet gateway facilities in Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix and Charlotte."

In Digital Realty's other transactions, the company:

Acquired 2300 NW 89th Place in Miami, Florida in a sale leaseback transaction, which included a new 10-year lease with Peer 1 Network Enterprises, Inc. for 100% of the property.

Purchased 600 Winter Street in Waltham, Massachusetts, a 30,400 square foot single-story building that was redeveloped as a mission critical datacenter in 1998. The property is 100% leased to Savvis.

"2055 East Technology Circle in Tempe currently has space available to support mission critical corporate datacenters, offering corporate customers in the Southwest the choice of move-in ready Turn-Key Datacenter space or Build-to-Suit space for custom datacenter projects," said Foust. "We look forward to working with customers in that market where first-class technology real estate is increasingly hard to find."